Salmon define Alaska's renewable resource industry. They return, in incredible numbers, to our rivers each year. They support tens of thousands of Alaska jobs and contribute of billions of dollars to our annual economy. Salmon fill our freezers and smokehouses, fascinate our kids and visitors, and feed our economy, not to mention our bears, rainbow trout, and eagles.
Bristol Bay's salmon runs are spectacular even by Alaska's very high standards. Bristol Bay's tundra, wetlands, streams and rivers are all part of a hard-working landscape that supports salmon. Which, in turn, support at least 14,000 fishing jobs, a thriving lodge and tourism industry and $1.5 billion annual economy. It supports our businesses, our families, and many others in Bristol Bay, Anchorage and beyond. Salmon keep many Alaska businesses open, year after year.
Unfortunately, this cornerstone of Alaska's economy is under threat from the proposed Pebble Mine.
In order to understand the magnitude of that threat, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has recently released its final Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment as Alaska Dispatch recently reported. EPA has taken every precaution to ensure this assessment represents the most comprehensive available science regarding large-scale mining in salmon waters. The report draws on hundreds of peer-reviewed, published reports and scientific findings. Furthermore, it draws directly on documents prepared for and by Northern Dynasty Minerals, the company seeking to develop the Pebble deposit -- one of dozens of mining claims in the watershed. During two rounds of peer review, national experts weighed in, improving the scope, structure, and content of the Assessment in a manner that well exceeds the requirements of traditional peer review processes.
The facts are indisputable: Pebble and other large-scale mining in Bristol Bay would cause irreversible harm to Bristol Bay's salmon and jobs, even if nothing ever goes wrong.
Pebble would be almost twenty times larger than all the other hard-rock mines in Alaska put together. The mine sits in the heart of salmon country. The study shows that 94 miles of prime salmon spawning and rearing habitat would no longer exist, nearly 5,000 acres of wetlands would be drained, or dug up. At full build out, over 10 billion tons of waste would have to be stored in dammed valleys just a few miles from Lake Iliamna and on top of salmon streams.
After several years of study, the EPA confirms what many of us have known for years, that Pebble is a risk that Alaska can't afford to take.
Fortunately, Alaskans have the opportunity to protect Bristol Bay's renewable resource industry right now using the Clean Water Act. Nearly four years ago Bristol Bay tribes, and Alaska commercial fishing and sport fishing groups asked the EPA to use the Clean Water Act to protect rivers and wetlands in Bristol Bay by denying, restricting, withdrawing or prohibiting mine waste from being disposed of in specific waters that were essential to salmon, wildlife and recreation.
Like many Alaskans, we get anxious and even angered by some of the illogical and overreaching actions the EPA takes in Alaska. However, in the case of protecting Bristol Bay, we fully support their work. Why? Because our state permitting system is designed to, in the end, allow Pebble, and any other mine in the area, to operate. Some of the inadequacies come to light in interviews from the Frontline special titled "Alaska's Gold" that aired last year. Our state system is broken when it comes to protecting salmon from Pebble. The state permitting system is set up to ask, "How can we put a mine here?" not to determine, "Should there be a mine here?" These are two very different questions that lead to very different circumstances. Additionally, during Alaska's 2013 legislative session there were over 12 bills being considered that lessened protections for fish, and there are more on the table this session. Alaskans have asked for help via the Clean Water Act because the state system wasn't working and the EPA has the responsibility, capacity and obligation to protect the clean water and fish resources of Bristol Bay.
The EPA's science is unquestionably clear, and 84 percent of Alaskans who have weighed in over the study period agree. Pebble is the wrong mine in the wrong place. Bristol Bay's salmon, jobs and culture should be immediately protected using the Clean Water Act.
When we pass our businesses on to our families someday, we want to know that everything possible was done to ensure Bristol Bay's wild salmon will keep Alaska's doors open for business with the welcome mat out for generations of Alaskans to come. Thank you, Sen. Begich for standing up for Alaskans and being a champ for Bristol Bay's salmon and jobs.
Bud Hodson has been in the Alaska sport fishing business for over 32 years. He owns and operates Tikchik Narrows Lodge in Wood Tikchik State Park and has been instrumental in building the strong and successful sport fishing economy in Bristol Bay. Bud is well respected in the business community, and an avid sportsman and pilot. He served five years on the governor appointed Alaska Board of Fisheries, four as Chairman.
Sonny Petersen is owner and operator of Katmailand, and his family pioneered the sport fishing and tourism in Bristol Bay. In 1974 he began an air taxi operation, Katmai Air and today he spends his summers managing the three lodges and Katmai Air while spends his winters in Anchorage preparing for the next season.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, e-mail commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.